China Unveils Proposed New Law Overseeing Artificial Intelligence Products

FILE - People watch a digital image at the Apsara Conference, a cloud computing and artificial intelligence conference, in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on Nov. 3, 2022.

China’s internet regulator has unveiled a proposed law that will require makers of new artificial intelligence, or AI, products to submit to security assessments before public release.

The draft law released Tuesday by the Cyberspace Administration of China says that content generated by future AI products must reflect the country’s “core socialist values” and not encourage subversion of state power.

The draft law also said AI content must not promote discrimination based on ethnicity, race and gender, and should not provide false information.

The proposed law is expected to take effect sometime this year. The regulations come as several China-based tech companies, including Alibaba, JD.com and Baidu have released a flurry of new so-called generative AI products which can mimic human speech and generate content such as images and texts. The innovative feature has surged in popularity since San Francisco-based OpenAI introduced ChatGPT last November.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse.